Calvin Klein jeans

In 1976 a TV commercial featuring Gloria Vanderbilt wearing blue jeans that she and her business partner, Warren Hirsh, recently put into production, appeared on air during the Academy Awards presentation. Until that moment nobody really thought of jeans as a designer item – they were the workers uniform that originated in Nimes and introduced by Levi Strauss to the American market in 1850s. Even the trendiest bell-bottomed pairs manufactured by Faded Glory and Jordache were hardly in demand among the stylish crowd.

Vanderbilt denims changed it all. Suddenly every woman wanted a pair of jeans with an elegant designer logo on a back pocket. For the fashion industry it felt like an explosion and every designer including Anne Klein, Geoffrey Beene and Bill Blass wanted to have their own line.

Klein toyed with an idea for a while struggling to make the final decision until he was approached by Puritan Fashion, a giant dress company run by Carl Rosen, one of “the kings” in the garment industry who was looking for a designer to license a collection of denim “for the public”.

The deal was signed on 29 June 1977. Calvin Klein and Barry Schwartz were offered one million dollars in cash advantage and guaranteed minimum of one million every year for the life of the contract in addition to the royalties for every pair sold.

Designing the first pair didn’t take long for Klein knew exactly what he wanted - indigo-dyed, 100% cotton, straight legged with a shorter rise to accentuate the shape of the bottom and give the jeans an instant sex appeal.

The very first advertising campaign featured Patti Hansen photographed by Charles Tracy. The image of a beautiful blond showcasing her bottom in a seductive pose caused a real scandal among women’s groups and brought $80 million in sales in the first year.

And then came Brooke and her Calvins.

She was 15 when Sheilds got approached by Calvin Klein with an offer to star in his jeans campaign. Brooke was directed by Richard Avedon to play different roles: “a liberated woman, an actress, a teenager, a vamp”… Kleins idea was to advertise the product without actually focusing on it, but rather sending hidden messages to play with people’s imagination.

It worked. In the first week the company sold 400000 pairs of jeans reaching an astonishing number of 2 million sales in a months and bringing £12.5 million in annual royalties. More over, sensual, provoking, beautiful and clever, those adverts caused both demand and controversy, shaping the image of Calvin Klein as a brand and making the clothes even more desirable.

Brooke Shields herself became somewhat of a celebrity and a star. Her image was associated with jeans so strongly that a few years later she came up with the own line of jeans called “Brookes”.